What is Tibetan Buddhism?

Tibetan Buddhism derives from the confluence of Buddhism and yoga
which started to arrive in Tibet from India briefly around the late
eighth century and then more steadily from the thirteenth century onwards.
Indian Buddhism around that time had incorporated both Hindu yogic
and tantric practices along with the classical teachings of the historical
Buddha who lived around 500 BCE. It acknowledged that there were two
paths to enlightenment (complete transcendence of identification with
the personal ego). One path was that taught in the sutras according
to the historical teachings. The heart of sutra practice was based
on morality, concentration, and wisdom (not identifying with the personal
ego). The other path, which has become the cornerstone of Tibetan variations,
was tantric. This practice blended the sutra teachings with techniques
adapted from Hindu systems of yoga and tantra.

Tantric systems transform the basic human passions of desire and aversion
for the purpose of spiritual development. Rather than denying such
primal urges, tantra purifies them into wholesome and helpful forces.
It is very much like trying to deal with a wild horse charging towards
you. One-way is denial: put up your hands and shout out, "stop,
stop!" Probably you will be bowled over by the animal. Another,
cleverer, approach is to step aside and then jump on its back as it
charges past you. In such a case, you have a chance to start coaxing
it to move in certain directions, and over time you may be able to
direct it into a stable. Truthfully, one needs some skill in both self-control
and acceptance if one is to be successful with tantric work.

Tibetan Tantra (also known as the Vajrayana) incorporates the major
aspects of both the Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhist teachings. It is
basically an esoteric extension on these themes. Hinayana and Mahayana
are two schools of Buddhist practice that have basically similar goals
and techniques but somewhat differing philosophies. For instance, Theravadin
Buddhism (known for its Vipassana meditation) is a Hinayana teaching
and Zen Buddhism is a Mahayana teaching. Tantra itself has various
schools, which can be grouped by the relative emphasis they place on
working with exoteric and esoteric practices.

Tantra

The tantric path includes the following steps:

Lamrim: (literally, stages of the path) these are indispensable topics
for reflection and contemplation and also the meditations and activities
that should naturally follow on from them. The Lamrim embodies the
necessary prerequisites for tantra. It is set out as a progressive
set of steps.

Relying Upon a Spiritual Guide (learning from someone already on the
path)

The Preciousness of Human Life (the importance of using life for something
valuable)

Death and Impermanence (uncertainty of death and the unsatisfactory
nature of this world)

The Danger of being Reborn in a Lower Realm

Taking Refuge from Samsara (the cycle of endless grasping and eventual
disappointment)

Karma (the law of cause and effect which works in this world as well
as at esoteric levels)

Developing Equanimity (accepting, and seeing past, both good and bad
experience)

Recognizing that all Beings are as Precious as our Mothers (the beginnings
of bodhicitta)

Remembering the Kindness of Others

Equalizing Self and Others (realizing that we all want, and deserve,
to be happy)

The Disadvantage of Self-Cherishing

The Advantage of Cherishing Others (loosening the hold of ego through
caring)

Exchanging Self with others (this is the core practice for developing
bodhicitta--it involves developing the wish to voluntarily take on
others' problems and freely give them one's own happiness in exchange.
A sketch of the technique is as follows: breathe in others' woes as
black smoke--let it settle into the heart, then breathe out all one's
own happiness as white light--let it expand to fill all the cosmos.
A practitioner should imagine and rejoice at the effect of both the
in- and out-breath. For, on the in-breath, the reality and weight of
all the problems in this world sink into the heart and help to dissolve
the ego. Likewise, the out-breath brings relief and joy to all others.)

Generation Stage of Tantra

These are preparatory practices that utilize imagination and much
visualization. They prepare the psychological and psychic groundwork
for the spiritual energy that will be developed and harnessed in the
following completion stage practices.

Beginning Meditation (visualization of oneself as a deity in the center
of a mandala full of other deities)

Subtle Meditation (visualization of a body mandala which corresponds
to points on the subtle nervous system)

Completion Stage of Tantra

These are very advanced meditations that primarily utilize subtle
energies known as winds (prana and chi are some other names for this
energy). These winds normally circulate throughout the psychic nervous
system. When they are collected into a central place they provide great
stability and clarity for the meditator. The normal collection point
is commonly known as a chakra. It corresponds to a node or plexus in
the psychic nervous system and acts as a link between the psychic,
or astral, level of existence and our normal level of experience.

Tibetan yoga employs a simplified version of the metaphysical structure
that is used in Hindu yoga. According to the Tibetan scheme there are
three realms to consider in spiritual practice. These correspond to
the Emanation Body (this world), the Enjoyment Body (the astral dimension),
and the Truth Body (a dimension that is much deeper--that is, much
more subtle--than the astral).

Isolated Body, Speech, and Mind (progressive isolation of consciousness
from this level of reality)

Illusory Body (development of an astral body. Consciousness now is
based in the astral not the physical)

Clear Light (development of a very subtle consciousness at the Truth
Body level)

Union or Full Enlightenment (linking the Truth Body consciousness
to the Enjoyment, or astral, Body)

Meditation on emptiness is integral throughout this practice. A simple
way to understand emptiness is as follows. In the physical world, the
personal ego has a relative span and will cease when the body does.
So relative to it, the soul, or Enjoyment Body, is much more important
since it will continue on after death. Thus saying the ego or self
is empty means it is better to ground awareness in the soul and experience
the ego as a garment, rather than only experiencing the ego and having
no real connection with the soul. Thus emptiness is a statement about
priority--we should consider the bigger context of our experience in
order to live more wisely and wholesomely.

The same principle of emptiness applies as progressively higher levels
of reality are experienced. Hence, when the Enjoyment Body, or soul,
becomes a living reality for the meditator, she or he continues to
take it as relatively real and keeps grounding awareness in the encircling
context. The context, or deeper level, for the soul is the Truth Body
(which is just a more subtle version of the soul). So as a meditator
realizes the Truth Body, the Enjoyment Body becomes the new object
for meditation on emptiness.

To recapitulate the entire process: at the beginning we have a body
and mind (the personal ego or self). Next an astral body (Enjoyment
Body) is developed and it is as if the physical body and personal ego
have become the "body" and the astral body has become the "mind".
Next a very subtle body (Truth Body) is developed and the final result
is that the astral body becomes the "body" and the Truth
Body becomes the "mind". At each stage of this sequence,
the "body" is subjectively experienced as being empty by
the "mind".

What is the experience of emptiness like? At the beginning level of
physical body and mind, emptiness means that one does not identify
with any experience whatsoever. Any sight, sound, or other sense is
recognized and honored for what it is, but it is not clung to. Similarly,
all thoughts and feelings are also taken in this way--as being real
and valuable, but not as being in one's possession so that one does
not cling to the experience of them. It is as if all experiences, whether
external (in the world "out there") or internal (inner thoughts,
hopes, feelings, and desires), are viewed as clouds passing by. The
reality is the sky, which the clouds float by in. And if the sky is
noticed, it too is taken as just another cloud wafting by. The result
of this amazing relation to one's experience is an enormous sense of
relief, peace, and clarity. At first it seems that one will die if
one doesn't cling to experience, but after awhile it becomes apparent
that one continues to live on anyway. We are more than just the experiences
that we engage in.

The same process applies at progressively more subtle levels of experience.
The contents of experience become more and more amazing and wonderful
(to our normal way of thinking) but the most skilful way of relating
to them still remains the practice of mindfulness (emptiness meditation).
So once a yogi creates an astral body and can experience reality at
that level, he or she works at non-identification with the astral body.
And similarly, once a Truth Body exists, meditation on its emptiness
continues as well.

Dzogchen

This is also a very advanced teaching whose end result is the same
as for the tantric path. Its techniques and emphasis are a bit different.
Primarily, Dzogchen underscores direct perception of the fundamental
nature of reality. So instead of working to create higher energy bodies
such as the astral body, it seeks to ground awareness directly back
into the Truth Body. And as mentioned above, this Body reaches the
limits of human experience and expression so that its subjective experience
is one of all-encompassing emptiness. That is, there is nothing more
to be said about this level with the common tools of human experience--words
and emotions. The main practice is similar to Zen meditation and consists
of holding a constant perceptual openness to all experience. For such
practice to lead to more subtle insight, however, a Dzogchen practitioner
needs to receive empowerments (transmission of spiritual energy) from
a qualified teacher. These act somewhat as a self-correcting guidance
system to help a meditator to gradually open to the deeper dimensions
of reality. Some Dzogchen meditations are similar to tantric visualization
and energetic practices. The basic prerequisites for Dzogchen are similar
to Tantra.

Tibetan Buddhism in Relation to Other Buddhist Traditions

The three yanas (vehicles, or schools) of Buddhism teach a similar
approach to enlightenment. It consists of morality, concentration,
and wisdom. They differ in the emphasis placed on these areas and also
on the level of reality that is primarily worked with. The main goal
and result of each school is moving beyond identification with the
personal ego. The resulting wisdom, or enlightenment, is experienced
at various levels of reality--from the physical-astral interface for
Vipassana and Zen, to the astral-very deep interface for Tantra and
Dzogchen.

The Sutra and Vajrayana teachings place great emphasis on building
a proper moral basis upon which to build the insights of emptiness.
In contrast, both Zen and Dzogchen place most of their focus upon directly
working to develop the wisdom of emptiness. In practice, both the Gradual
and Fast Paths have strengths and weaknesses. The gradual approach
guarantees a steady mind and heart when one begins to experience very
deep states of meditation. This is extremely useful as the power of
the subconscious mind that can be unleashed in such states is enormous
and can lead to psychological imbalance if one is not basically well
rounded by such a stage of practice. The drawback, of course, is that
it takes a long time to really begin to purify one's mind and heart.
Many great masters have spent their entire lives with the purification
and transformation of mind and heart as their chief practice.

The fast approach provides the quickest means to experience awareness
beyond that normally associated with the ego. Its drawback is the potential
fragility of the ego to withstand such rapid and deep-reaching change--the
very thing gradual paths strive to guard against.

An analogous situation holds for the exoteric and esoteric schools.
Exoteric traditions are more solid and balanced since they mostly work
with the perceptions and energies of the physical plane. So even though
it is not uncommon to be visited with various astral experiences during
advanced stages of Zen or Vipassana meditation, the emphasis of such
schools is to continue grounding back to this earth--to the sights,
sounds, tastes and thoughts that comprise ordinary experience. The
drawback is that the primal energies that underpin the physical world
are only indirectly addressed.

Esoteric traditions, on the other hand, determine to apply themselves
directly to the forces that underlie ordinary existence. They reach
for the essential nature of the experience of living which manifests
as subtle energy and consciousness. The drawback is that similar to
reaching too far, too fast, into the psyche as for the fast traditions,
esoteric work can reach too far, too fast into subtler fields of energy.
This can manifest variously as, for instance, unwanted communication
with other beings, energetic imbalances of the body and mind, and uncontrolled
effects on the environment and other beings.

The confluence of Buddhism and other mystical teachings in the West
is resulting in a blending of these various approaches to spirituality.
It is likely that, along with the aforementioned paths, a blending
of them which puts emphasis somewhere in between along both axes of
the above table will develop as a useful approach for those who wish
to remain in a regular lifestyle.